Shadow Techniques

[{SS}Crow]

I am quite the Novice at the Irrlicht Engine. So, forgive my stupid questions.

I am wondering if there are any methods for Shadows other than Stencil shadowing and Rendering to Texture.

Specifically, are there any extensions for the Irrlicht Engine that allow for Ray Traced Shadows, Shadow Volumes, or even possible Self/Soft Shadows?

And forgive me if this has already been discussed on the forum.

From what I can tell of this engine. Its great Graphically, but it lacks power the power in the shadows.

Also, does Irrlicht support photon maps? Or would it be better to Bake the Photon map to the Map texture and provide a lower res Shadow Map to save frame rate?

I just trying to get these questions answered so that I know the best method for shadow rendering in our game.

Thanks again,

Regards Crow.

[kburkhart84]

I don't think Irrlicht does any other types of shadows than what you have mentioned that you know it does. It would require a new style of engine to do shadow mapping technique, which DOES produce soft shadows if you want.